Man, time flies.
Another year has crept up on me and I'm closing in at long last on the big 3-0. Thirty years of life and I have to say during all that time I've been able to do and experience some amazing things. I was able to go play all the sports I could dream of at a wonderful high school. I had two parents who, although they were vociferously against me becoming a professional wrestler instead of getting to work in a family business, supported me resolutely and without any demands other than to be the absolute best that I can be at whatever it was I chose to do with my life.
I was able to go to a wonderful university not far from home and play a sport while doing it. The grind of being a student-athlete who also worked part time whenever I could spare free time was daunting, but I saw it through and graduated after having an athletic career where the only regret was a National Championship remained tantalizingly out of reach. I was fortunate enough to see that wrestling was something that I wanted to do not long after that.
Taking credit for someone’s success is the absolute apex of arrogance to me. I spent time training with a wrestling legend, but I never heard Carlos Rosso take credit for my success a single time. There have been dozens, if not hundreds of rival wrestlers, promoters, executives and the like who have contributed meaningful things to my success. My first job on the indy scene outside of Reseda. My first big break in WrestleWorld. The opportunity to wrestle as a guest in Strong Style Wrestling.
There were doors opened for me, mainly because of who I knew.
But I was the one who had to walk through those doors and prove my worth.
Arata Asakura. I’m not going to pretend that you don’t deserve to be here. Other people may have complaints, legitimate ones, but I know that if you had to earn your way here instead of politik for this match, you would have done so anyway. I don’t doubt you when you say that you want to beat me in a fair match. I know that even though you have a massive ego that rivals my own, your pride as a wrestler wouldn’t allow you to go to some of the more pathetic measures that someone like Christopher Sabertooth would sink to. To add to that, you’re more than capable of pulling off what you’re promising to do. Even though I don’t think even you can bring me to the point of ever submitting willingly, knocking me out is not out of the question and something that I have to consider when preparing my approach.
You’ve said a lot of things that are, to a point, true. There would be no Emmanuelle without Arata Asakura. YOU helped make the name, the legacy of Emmanuelle. An unbeaten prodigy made famous when she upset the legendary Shogun Champion. You pushed me to reach a higher level, to understand that even though my skills were excellent and my potential for growth was nearly limitless…but I had to hone my skills to get better after you humbled me. And I did get better by beating YOU after coming back from injury to become a World Champion for the first time in my career. You may have been able to wrestle that title back from me, but the marker had been laid down: I was one of the best wrestlers on the planet within a year of my professional debut.
But here is where the line of demarcation is between you speaking the truth and you uttering a bunch of bullshit:
You sit there and you tell these people, you tell yourself that you made me. It’s the very same mistake that Christopher Sabertooth once made. Listen….you aided my growth. You have pushed me…you have beaten me….but YOU NEVER MADE ME!
I.
MADE.
MY.
SELF.
Just like you.
Yes, I couldn’t have the exact same legacy I do without you in my life, but you have given me nothing. In fact, It seems like I have taken things from you instead of groveling before you for anything. Another thing, you seem to heavily imply that since you came from nothing that your effort somehow makes you better than me, that your struggles and lack of a proper childhood makes you somehow more deserving of the Valor Championship or anything else than other people.
It doesn’t.
For you to sit there and judge me and say that my career means nothing if you weren’t involved in it, that’s far more than an insult to me. I’ve been in wrestling for about four years now. I know I keep harping on the time frame, but what you are saying is not just an insult to me, man. All the people that I’ve crossed paths with…it’s an insult to them too! The Rebecca Filths, The Corsairs, the Jacob Senns, the Jaywalkers, The Vendettas, the Darkanes of the world, all the men and women that have fought and sweated and bled in the rings everywhere from Monroe, Louisiana to St. Petersburg, Russia alongside me….they mean nothing?
Their contributions aren’t as important as yours, Christopher’s?
No, fuck that. And FUCK YOU for thinking so highly of yourself that you would dare say something like that.
Four years.
My career has been going for that long now. And over and over again I’ve managed to shatter my limits. You’ve seen it with your own eyes, Dragon King. You have thrown up obstacles before that I’ve had to tear down, and I’ve done so. But now, this time, I have more than just my skills and resolve at my disposal to beat you. You can sit there and claim all you want that you’re fighting for Salvation and here to assist Chris with his plans for PCW.
I can always tell when you are lying because, frankly, you were never any good at it. You’re only here for yourself. Not for any goal other than satisfying your own lust for gold and wealth.
This time, I’m fighting for just more than my own ambitions, my own goals. And YOU, ya big space pirate, have given me even MORE ammunition. I want the Valor Championship to be the wrestling title of legacy. Not just a simple contest of wrestling skill and might. I want every champion that comes after me to leave the imprint of their very soul on this beautiful piece of red leather and gold.
You still don’t understand do you?
Carlos, Sawyer, my family, my friends, every person who has fought and bled in the ring with me, everyone who has supported me along the way fights in the ring with me. Do you get it now? This championship isn't just about conquering an opponent and calling myself the best. PEOPLE SACRIFICED EVERYTHING FOR ME TO BE IN THIS POSITION, THEY TRUSTED ME WITH EVERYTHING!
Their hearts.
Their dreams.
Their visions.
Everything.
Every strike I throw at you will be fueled by hundreds of souls.
And you won’t be able to stand up to the challenge.
Why do I know this? Because I know YOU. You’re a great wrestler, maybe the best in the world, but I know that when your HEART is challenged, you crumble. Not because you don’t have one of your own, but because at the end of the day it’s the one part of your wrestling that possesses a fatal flaw:
You have no fighting spirit, no resolve to do anything other than enrich yourself.
And you know what? That’s maybe the best thing that I could ever say about knowing you and people like you. So, thank you, Arata. If I had never met you, I might have become you. Sadly for you, however, the monster that you helped to create by your own admission is going to be standing in front of you at Standing Room Only in front of thousands of her closest friends with the heart and soul of everyone I’ve ever stood across from in the ring, EVEN YOU, fueling my drive to push past you one more time.
At Standing Room Only, I’m going to trespass into the lair of the Dragon King himself and prove one more time that even though he can look into the depths of my soul that he will NEVER, EVER OWN IT!
The people who supported me will NOT tolerate failure, and neither will I. As long as these lungs are drawing air, then you’re in for the problem of a lifetime. Your face is a familiar one, a haunting one at times.
This time, I’m slamming the door shut in your face. You can go hunt for gold elsewhere after this because the Valor Championship and myself?
Our journey is just beginning.
Today at 12:05 pm by 
Subject: All Those Familiar Faces (Vs Arata #2) 
